Downton Abbey villages, Bodleian Library, London and Hampton Court

 

Helen came across a brochure that outlined that a number of the nearby villages were used in the Downton Abbey series. Off we went with Denis and Denise who were also avid followers. Our first stop was Swinbrook which boasts The Swan Inn where Lady Sybil and Branson stayed while planning their elopement. It is unusual as the nearest end of the building has the nearby stream diverted under it and presumably housed an internal water wheel at some stage.

As we did the rounds Denis spotted this village square which he (and then the ladies) recognised as a location where there was a gathering of cars from the series.

Bampton was used as the Downton village. Church Gate house became the exterior of Isobel Crawley’s house.

And St Mary’s (renamed St Michael and All Angels) hosted a number of weddings and funerals.

Church View (home to two fictional pubs) was enhanced with the Autumn colours

What does not come across in the blog is the wonderful smells emanating from the fallen leaves. Meanwhile Shilton provided the Old Forge

And the Shill brook which was just gorgeous in the Autumn light

Thanks to a calm day the reflections in the ford were tranquil and captivating.

That was until some hoon came through shouting “Denis made me do it!”

Cats Abbey is part of the Sherborne estates. The main residence has been converted into flats with views over the nearby brook. You can even rent one of them for something like £120 per night (low season).

Continuing on our Downton tour we made an unscheduled stop at Aston Pottery where the flower display just had to be captured.

Mid tour we returned to Sherborne village for coffee with the gang. The shop people had been just great putting up with our mob regularly descending on them and disrupting the usually much calmer customer flow. Denis F decided to dedicate his old grimy cap to the shop owner. I have to say she was very graceful in receiving and then wearing a clearly well used garment.

Our earlier visit to Oxford was a short affair with the children so a second trip was essential. We visited the Bodleian library. Downstairs is the Divinity school which, in part, was used for pupils exams. These originally were verbal affairs with the tutor asking a question like “How many angels are there in heaven?” You then had to decide on a number and argue your case while the examiner sat in the middle listening. Meanwhile there was plenty of room for the public such as parents and those financing your education to sit and listen. Must have been a stressful affair given candidates were generally about 17 years old.

The library was built in 1442 above the Divinity school to keep the books above the floods. Photography was not allowed so I snapped this poster. The library gains some funding from leasing to film makers (eg Harry Potter). It was the first library in Oxford and the main benefactor made a deal with Edinburgh press to take one copy of any book they printed (in those days 1 a month). However, that has ballooned somewhat to all published matter and now means a truck with between 4000 and 6000 items arrives each week. These have to be catalogued and stored by Tuesday in time for the next Wednesday delivery.

Storage is now over some 12 buildings the largest of which in Swindon has 154 miles of shelving……

After all that mind blowing data it was good to just enjoy the colourful and vibrancy of the covered market.

We also managed an overnight trip to London to tick off a bucket list item. Jazz at Ronnie Scotts where we were joined by Sue, Martin and their son Xavier. Another location which banned photography hence the outside shot.

The show starred Michel Legrand with a drummer and double base. Amazing pianist and composer (Windmills of your mind etc). His ability to jazz tunes up with different keys and rhythms really kept the others in the trio on their toes as well adding much humour to a thoroughly enjoyable show. Not bad at 83 years of age.

The club is just round the corner from Piccadilly which now looks great with its spruced up buildings and light displays.

We took the opportunity to spend a bit of time at Hampton Court Palace where we had managed a fleeting visit in September 2013 whilst aboard Braggabout with Sue and Martin. We chose the Henry VIII apartment tour which started just off the main courtyard

Which is overlooked by a beautiful astrological clock.

The great hall gives some insight into the lavish, no expense spared approach. Each of the 8 tapestries cost some £2000 back in the 1500’s of Henry’s rule. He had some 2000 made. The outside fountain delivered wine where you could help yourself. (Good job this is not the case today as our Cats Abbey mob would have camped there!)

The weather continued to be balmy and dry with the result that the Autumn colours were stunning. Here is just a small part of the gardens. 

The large formal garden still required substantial resources as the great weather meant plants/grass continued to grow apace. The Great Fountain Garden that is at the rear of the palace.

The more formal Privy garden which is overlooked by William (III) and Mary (II) Baroque inspired wing.

Next door is the immaculate knot garden

And a little further along the oldest and biggest vine in the world which was planted in 1768. (For the Cats Abbey mob it still produces some 1000 bunches a year but don't get excited they are table rather than drinking grapes!)

Opposite the palace is Bushy Park where the deer roam freely although you are recommended not to get too close in the rutting season. Those antlers could certainly do some damage.

We had decided (after being unsuccessful with the ballot) that the SF and Finals would be watched on TV. The SF comprised only Southern hemisphere countries (what does that say?). We managed to beat Argentina 29 to 15 and “Don’t cry for me Argentina” had a new meaning when you saw their coach gushing after the match.

We then met New Zealand for the first time in a RWC final. We unfortunately lost 17 to 34 but it was quite close over much of the second half then an intercept when the Kiwis were defending their line gave them a try against the run of play. Still most of us were delighted to have made the final given the draw and new state of the side. (The coach Michael Cheika took the reins barely 12 months earlier.)

And with the rugby finished it was time to head home which we were looking forward to after 3 months travelling. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes to Jo and travelled East, for the first time in quite a while, back to Australia.

Oxford, fishing and the QFs

The last of the pool matches was at Twickenham against Wales. This was a key match up as both of us had beaten England so this was for the top of the pool decider and "easier" route in the QFs. Helen was particularly looking forward to seeing the Welsh kicker Biggar given his amazingly twitchy routine. (Eventually she found it too distracting to watch.) (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ql8wyiDt6s). Pretty effective though...

It was a wonderfully close encounter with the lead changing several times and one period where Australia defended for 20 minutes much of it with only 13 men. Australia 33 Wales 28.

As we were close to Oxford a visit was essential. We were somewhat overwhelmed by the number of colleges. One of the larger ones is Christ College.

This is opposite the Radcliffe Camera (Cam means room in Latin) which houses the Radcliffe Science Library. Behind this is the Bodlean Library (of which more in a later blog).

Just 50 metres away is Oxford’s Bridge of Sighs which (as with the Cambridge bridge) is modelled on the famous Venice bridge.

There are also some beautiful gardens. This is the Christ Church War Memorial garden.

Which was just up the hill from the river where we succumbed to a quick boat trip as K, B and A had been good to tolerate all the sightseeing.

Cats Abbey is surrounded by numerous picturesque villages. One of the popular ones is Bibury where we had a bit of lunch.

It straddles the River Coln and as well as being photogenic

had a large trout farm

You could fish for free but then had to pay for what you caught. Each of the children caught a fish 

Which were quite large

However, these then need to be cleaned. Dad gave a demonstration.

And then the boys got stuck in.

 

The following evening we cooked the fish with some lemon and shared it amongst the Cats Abbey residents. The meal was very well received. This was pretty much the last supper with the Michael et al as they had to head off back to Australia and contribute a little more to the tax man.

Meanwhile Helen and I had tickets for both QFs and headed off for a weekend based near Twickenham (well actually very close to Heathrow). The first match was a very close encounter between South Africa and Wales. The lead changed several times before SA prevailed 31 v 30. We found ourselves on the edge of our seats notwithstanding we were ambivalent about the outcome. The SA supporters next to us decided they were looking forward to Sundays Australia v Scotland match so that they could relax and enjoy the rugby.

The village we stayed at was sandwiched between Heathrow and the M4 but was surprisingly quiet. It will be decimated if the third Heathrow runway is approved. It has many historically significant buildings such as this Tythe barn.

We went for a small walk and came across another surprise. This plaque was in front of a fenced off series of overgrown concrete roads. It is where they built models to test the WW2 bouncing bomb which destroyed German dams.

Sunday we all looked relaxed as most anticipated that the match with Scotland should be one of the easier ones. Were we ever wrong. Another match with the lead changing several times and Australia winning in the 79^th minute with a penalty 35 to 34. Apart from some of the best rugby I have seen the other factor that the weekend proved was that there is nothing wrong with our hearts given the substantial stress test they went through.

The players did a tour of the field after the encounter well pleased to be in the SF. 

On a more relaxed note we went for a tour exploring some villages to the South of Cats Abbey. We came across Minchinhampton Common. There were plenty of signs to warn us of the free roaming cows. They seem quite at home with traffic and look left, right and then left again before crossing the road.

Some of the older members even enjoy watching golf although the youngsters did not find this putting display quite so captivating.